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tv   News Nation  MSNBC  March 17, 2011 2:00pm-3:00pm EDT

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nuclear situation. and within the next hour, the u.n. security council votes to decide whether to support a no-fly zone over libya. this, as gadhafi forces battle rebels in the last city still under opposition control. two important votes on capitol hill today. the house about to vote on funding for national public radio, and the senate votes on a bill to keep the government running for three more weeks. a live report is ahead. plus, call it love and deceit. a man behind bars for preying on unsuspected women using romance to break into their bank accounts. how the women joined forces to catch the con. i'm tamron hall. the "news nation" is following breaking new details on the nuclear emergency in japan. a short time ago, the japanese government told the iaea that its engineers have been able to lay an external power cable at
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one of the reactors at the fukushima plant. now, this means they hope to reconnect power as soon as they are done spraying water on unit number three. earlier today, workers dumped thousands of gallons of water on the reactors by helicopter. the flights were stopped after the government realized they were not helping cool the unit down. they're still spraying water on reactors from the ground. the u.s. military is sending a nine-member team to japan, as early as today, to help evacuate -- to evaluate the nuclear situation. it's not clear if they will go to the plant that's been damaged. president obama is due to make a statement at 3:30 eastern time. joining me now is a physicist who has worked on nuclear reactor accident simulations. thank you for joining us. >> nice to be here. >> let's talk about this breaking news at this power cable may be down very soon and this could finally provide some power to unit number three.
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one of those -- unit number two, excuse me. one of those units affected in this crisis. >> i think that's an extremely good news. if a.c. power had been restored within, you know, a day, we wouldn't have had any of the problems we're dealing with right now. it's too bad it's taken six days, going on seven, to get power there. but restoration of a.c. power will make a huge difference, especially at the three nuclear reactors. >> one of your concerns is that we're seeing trouble with three reactors and them having the problem at the same time there. >> yeah. the spent fuel pool, in addition to the three reactors that are having core damage problems, it's really bad. >> what do you make of this effort earlier today to dump seawater from above using those chinook helicopters down and realizing this was a wasted
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effort? did you ever think something like that would work from the beginning? >> it looked like a real long shot, when i say it. these pools are very large, very deep, compares to the capacity of the chinooks and the ability to hit the fuel storage pool is, is limited. and i think anybody that saw the videos saw it might have worked for a forest fire but not to hit a target like that small. >> you have said this is a real crisis of confidence regarding what we are hearing from japanese officials, as well as the owners of some, say, as well as the owners of the plant itself. do you believe a part of the problem is the lack of information? i mentioned at the top of the hour a nine-member team of u.s. experts is headed to the area. we don't know how close they will actually get to the plant, though. >> well, it's pretty astone herbing to see the chairman of the nuclear regulatory
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commission testifying that what has been told to the rest of us by the japanese was untrue i.e., there was no water in the fuel storage pool and we had been told up until then there was water. so that's pretty astonishing. on the other hand, it's difficult to actually know what's going on in an emergency like this. we probably need to be patient. >> you had said that you believe that the u.s. has probably used satellites to take photos of the reactors. >> yes, i'm sure that that's been the case. >> obviously that would be to try to get some information perhaps that is not being provided by japanese officials? >> that was my speculation, as i say, the contradiction between what u.s. top officials are saying and what tepco has said is pretty astounding. >> what are you looking for at this point? we are almost a week into this crisis, starting at least when the impact of the earthquake and
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the tsunami was first felt. and now we are at the point of desperation certainly. we've been using that word and the word crisis, catastrophe, for the last several days now. now this bit of hope that engineers are able to lay some kind of power cable to this nuclear unit, but that would only affect one of the units if it in fact does work. what are you looking for in the next 24 to 48 hours? >> actually, there's cause for hope regarding the three reactors going through core damage accidents. simply because of the fact, as you say, seven days have gone by and the reactor pressure vessels haven't failed yet. that is absolutely critical, there's a big difference between an accident in which that vessel fails and an accident in which it doesn't. and time is really on our side because the heat, the decay heat in the fuel that might be causing the meltdown decreases as every day goes by.
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i'm encouraged, aside from the electricity i the reactors might make it okay. >> interesting. >> the fuel storage pools, that's a different story. >> ken bergeron, thank you for your time. we'll be talking more with you in the days ahead. in an hour and a half from now, president obama set to deliver a statement on japan from the white house. the u.s. has authorized the first evacuation of americans out of that country amid growing concerns of a catastrophe. within the last few minutes, the first evacuation flights of u.s. citizens left japan. nbc news white house correspondent mike viqueira joins me live outside the white house. this news just in, state department says the first evacuation flights of u.s. citizens left japan already. what are we expecting to hear from the president? >> reporter: you might be able to hear sirens through my microphone here in washington. the president returning to the white house, tamron, from the japanese embassy. an unexpected or unannounced visit to the japanese embassy,
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where he met with the ambassador and signed a condolence book, where people have been streaming in to express solidarity and support for the people in japan, as they try deal with this crisis. we are going to see the president, another unscheduled event in the rose garden. the president expected to make a statement on the situation in japan. he won't be taking questions. that's our anticipation, at any rate. i think we can expect him to talk about the efforts that the united states has been making in response to this crisis to help the japanese beet, logistically and humanitarian basis, across the board, to experts from the nrc. also expect the president to talk about the relative safety of u.s. shores. we've seen this graphic now of the possibility of a plume of radiation floating across the pacific. experts stress it's a minimal amount that we are constantly exposed to radiation and it likely would not present a
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danger to u.s. citizens. we can expect the president to talk, i think, about the possibility of that -- of a similar crisis happening here with one of the more than 100 nuclear plants operating in the country, many of them, a couple of dozen, of the same make and model as the daiichi fukushima, the plant suffering the crisis right now. we've heard throughout the day there have been evacuations or the state department and the pentagon both entities planning a voluntary evacuation of dependents and family members from japan. remember, there are some 35,000 american troops, men and women in uniform, permanently stationed in japan at various places throughout the country. several thousand more state department throughout the country. you reported that the associated press tells us the first planes have left, head off to taipei, taiwan, on top of the 17,000, as a matter of fact, sailors and marines, other military personnel, trying to assist the japanese recover from the
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earthquake, the soourn, atsunam possible meltdown crisis. >> mike i haviqueira live at th white house. waiting for the president to speak soon. unpredicted weather and wind conditions in japan threatening to spread radioactive contamination. forecasts show a radioactive plume should reach southern california by tomorrow. now, experts say radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels, and at worse, would have minor health consequences here in the u.s. samantha mohr joins me live from atlanta. we have tracked a lot of storms, tracking winds for a different reason. people have big questions. >> absolutely. because it is going to affect millions of people. now, it looks like the most concerned folks are still going to be in the country of japan, obviously. let's take a look at the prevailing winds over there right now. of course we had a frontal system move through, 36 hours
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ago, and that changed the wind direction to a northwesterly direction, which is good news for the folks that are around the fukushima nuclear power plant because that's an offshore win, what we expect to see through friday. it will take contaminants out across the pacific. and in the meantime a fluctuation, that brings winds onshore at night, light but that allows contaminants to linger over the communities more. that's not good news. through the rest of the week as well and into the weekend the offshore win is going to be shifting, once again. we'll see a frontal system on approach, high pressure in advance of that front, will end up creating a light win pattern, not good news for the folks here in tokyo and sendai, as light winds don't mix the atmosphere, our atmosphere tends to stray
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striated and in layers. the most contaminated air will be near the surface and won't be going anywhere fast. the frontal system will bring some rain. that will change things up as well. sunday, monday, and tuesday. notice how cold it is at night. near freezing. many folks do not have power and are out of their homes. so not the best situation, as far as temperatures are concerned. we sure could use a warm-up. >> quickly, the winds affecting california, as i mentioned, we were going into, that radiation plume according to experts should become diluted as it travels but it could reach california? >> at did live you said a very diluted level, at least that's what the dispersement models are hinting at by the time it makes its way across the pacific it will have major dilution. we'll stay on top of that for
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you. coming up, lie talk with anton ed wards an expert on emergency preparedness, talking about what americans need to do, especially in the california area and who have questions regarding this plume that could reach the west coast over the one. next on "news nation" -- in a few hours, the united nations is set to vote on a no-fly zone in libya. we'll get the very latest. mr. federal funding be stripped from npr? it's the hot topic this hour. the house of representatives is expected to vote within the hour. we'll get a live report from kelly o'donnell on capitol hill. stunning, new pictures of the tsunami as it reached hawaii. new images.what can withlain mashepotatoes? when you pour chunky beef with country vegetable soup over it, you can do dinner. 4 minutes, around 4 bucks. campbell's chunky. it's amazing what soup can do.™
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welcome back to "news nation." amateur video posted on the internet and it appears to show security forces in bahrain smashing car windows as part of a crackdown on protesters in the capital. demonstrates are in the main square were sprayed with tear gas, hit with rubber bulge lets. police even stormed into the central hospital, attacking doctors and patients. reports indicate at least six people were killed in these clashes and seven opposition leaders were arrested today. the united nations security council is expected to vote later today on resolution to impose a no-fly zone over libya, in hopes of stopping moammar gadhafi's air assault on rebel forc forces. the u.s. is pushing the u.n. to authorize the use of air strikes. right now gadhafi's forces are driving toward benghazi, that is east of tripoli. and those government forces have now reportedly surrounded the last rebel-held city before
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entering benghazi. it is the same city where four "new york times" journalists disappeared, including pulitzer prize winning reporter anthony shadid. all last seen tuesday. jim maceda reports from tripoli on the latest fighting. >> reporter: nbc news sourcesen side benghazi, still rebel-held stronghold, are confirming that there have been air strikes, warplanes have bombed what looks like the area around the benghazi close to the airport. otherwise, most of the pro-gadhafi forces are primarily involved in amassing on the border of the outskirts of ajdabiya, a key town, 100 miles south of benghazi. some reports here in tripoli suggesting that that town has already fallen. our information is that that's not the case, that the rebels are still inside the town and the loyalists forces loyal to
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gadhafi are on the outskirts. but they are amassing so many troops, so much materiel and supplies, including ammo that it look like they're not only prepared to go through and take ajdabiya, but go all the way to benghazi and then beyond benghazi to the egyptian border, where they could encircle and besiege the capital or at least the rebel capital, and hold it, starve it out, perhaps, and not have to proceed with a bloodbath. already, some international aide agencies and some news organizations as well have left benghazi, fearing a major battle. yesterday, saif gadhafi, one of the spokesmen for the regime flip annually said military operations in benghazi would be over in two days. what is more likely is that this could last a long time, especially if it turns into a
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guerrilla-style conflict. jim maceda, nbc news, reporting from tripoli. congress is set to take two important votes this afternoon. the house is scheduled to vote on republican measure that would block funding for npr. meantime, the senate is peck exed to give final congressional approval to the latest stopgap bill to fund the federal government for three more weeks. luke russert joins us like. npr, that's where the heat is right now. the white house coming out with a statement condemning this effort by republicans in the house, luke. >> reporter: yes, the white house did say today that they were very much against this bill brought forward by house republicans that would in fact defund npr. stopped short of a veto threat if it were to get through the senate but they were against it. it's expects vote will happen 2:30 p.m., it's expected it will pass the house with heavy gop support. it remains as to what will be
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seen to the bill in the united states senate. it most likely could not pass out of there. but who knows? intensive budget negotiations there could be agreement on this type of bill. what's in this bill, which is interesting, spawned from the conservative activist james o'keeffe's video which caught npr officials on videotape saying they did not need funding. they have said on tape they don't no need it. democrats saying hold on there, there's a generalization. local stations desperately need to buy npr programs. under the bill the programs and funding would be cut. it remains to be seen what will happen with the bill going forward but it will pass the house. who knows in the senate. >> what are republicans saying regarding critics who say eric cantor fast tracked this to please the base, to your point, please some conservatives who see npr as they saw akorn as a threat, they believe sides with
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democrats and liberals. what is the response to some of that criticism? >> reporter: if you look at the history of the bill overall, republicans have already voted to defund much of the corporation for public broadcasting. the corporation for public broadcasting is what funds npr everybody to a degree. what you're seeing is republicans putting npr out front and center to make an issue of it, try to defund it in the american public's eye and bring up all of the arguments that they have brought up for many years. there's no doubt, and republican aides will tell you privately, this is being done as to give a big slice of red meat to the activists base, a lot of folks responsible for getting them here this last november. is this the most pressing issue? they say they'll tie it into the issue of spending say, look, npr does not need billions of dollars in federal subsidies, we can cut spending here. democrats say this is redk lus. we're not talking about jobs. we don't have jobs building
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going on. all we are doing is going into conservatives' favorite issues, things like earlier in the year abortion, now the defense of marriage act, those issues which have nothing to do about the economy. it remains to be seen whether the american public sees defunding of npr plays into an economic message. >> luke russert, live on capitol hill. >> reporter: happy st. patrick's day. >> i was in the parade a second ago into in the meantime, it is being called the largest online pedophile bust ever. tens of thousands of people arrested worldwide. and there is a connection here in the states. plus -- low levels of radiation detected on flights arriving to the frus tokyo. janet napolitano says there's no cause for alarm. what else she had to say. ♪
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welcome back to "news nation." we wanted to share this video just in to us. it is of president obama signing the condolence book at the japanese embassy. the president is expected to speak around 3:30 about the crisis in japan. but part of what he wrote in the book of condolences says, my heart goes out to the people of japan during this enormous tragedy. please know that america will always stand by one of its greatest allies during this time of need. that is part of what the president just wrote in the book of condolences at the japanese embassy. for better performance under the hood. so we gave it a new name. castrol edge with syntec power technology. new name. better formula. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. so delicious. my peppers and broccoli... they really make the dish.
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way for the second man accused in the murders of a connecticut mother and her two daughters in the family's home. dangerous distraction. a school bus driver accused of sending and receiving over 1,000 text messages while behind the wheel of a bus full of children. amidst the growing thread of nuclear catastrophe, the japanese government is telling it iaea its evening nears have been able to lay a power cable to the plant. spraying water on a different reactor, this could be critical here. the uss george washington delivered 100 nuclear, biological, chemical firefighting suits and masks to the government of japan for use at fukushima plant. u.s. military provided five high pressure water pumps to help cool the reactors that have been damaged. just a short time ago, the first flight of u.s. evacuees
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left japan. the u.s. military sending a stockpile of potassium iodide tablets to treat civilians exposed. but a u.s. defense official says there's no confirmed cases of radiation exposure among u.s. military members. trace levels of radiation have been found on an american airlines flight from japan that landed at dallas-ft. worth airport. levels were found on a delta flight that land at chicago's o'hare. pete williams joins us live. give us perspective on the low levels and if this is something and that happens often. >> reporter: let me tell you how many, in fact, how many of these trace levels are detected every year. over 500,000, according to an official, the department of homeland security. what the situation is that no new equipment has been deployed
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to airports or seaports or where mail or cargo is sorted but the people of front line agents from customs and border protection have been told to pay special attention to arriving flights, passengers and cargo from japan. now, as to the dallas report this morning, that turned out to be medical equipment that caused that higher than normal reading. and i'm not sure what the source of the chicago one was, but there's been no confirmed indication that any of these blips so far that have been detected are in fact radiation from japan. now, lots of things emit radiation that will trip off detectors, medical equipment, people who have had any kind of medical treatment involving radioactive isotopes, stress tests, that sort of thing. we've learned that tiles have that clay in them can set off, they have a certain background high level of radiation and kitty litter, which has clay in it, can set off radiation detectors. so, they're set to an extremely low level. that's why you get more than
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500,000 of these every year because the theory is, if somebody is carrying something hazardous and it's shielded it will give off a certain amount of low level radiation and they want to check it. in none of the flights from japan have they found any level hazardous, nothing beyond the usual things that set the blips off. officials say that low levels of radiation from japan are headed for california, but the chief of the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission says americans are not in any danger. >> the basic physics and basic science tells us there really can't be a risk or harm to anyone here in the united states or hawaii or any of the other territories. >> so joining me now to talk more about it, discovery channel's anton edwards author of "preparedness now." good to see you. you've been a businey man. people have natural questions
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and concerns. >> they're very nervous. to address the thing in california, the american people don't have anything to worry about, in terms of levels of radiation that the material that's coming in our direction, it's low level radiation. if anything, it's going to have to deal with the pasture land, where we grow our foods like, what happened in chernobyl in europe where the cloud dispersed over europe and the reduce had to be destroyed because it wasn't any good. >> contaminated the ground, the cows eat the grass and it comes out in the milk. >> finds its way back into the food chain. also, a lot of the radioactive materials in the cloud have a short half-life. they'll emit radiation for a brief period, some for like two, three days and it's basically relatively harmless. no radiation is safe, but generally speaking, americans don't have anything to worry about. >> we have this map here. we're showing the path, some 5,000 miles, first to the illyushin islands where they expect the lums to go and southern california. with na said, balancing the reality of the science as we know it, regarding the fact this
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radiation will become diluted as it travels, what should people realistically do? we saw the potassium iodide, this is insane, do not do that. >> it's crazy. people get background radiation from living on the planet earth. >> from flying. >> exactly. you get closer like 70 millie sieverts a year from moving around. people have to be realistic of what think think the real threat is. >> how do we prepare? >> what to do to prepare, get the information. the information is the most important thing. especially people who live like in japan, immediate proximity to the actual event. but we're not near that. americans need to do what they need to do prepare for like in the communities that they live if you live near a nuclear power plant. >> people who live in california that live near operating nuclear power, should they stock their home differently than anyone else? >> they should have, you know, a
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go back prepared if they had to leave the house quickly, have partial face respirators if in the event there was a release of particulates they would protect themselves, goggles. they should have those things. if you live close to a nuclear power facility, especially us in new york, we're near indian point. >> right. >> according to the nrc, the most risky plant for this timing of disasterer to happen, yeah, we should have those materials available. we done have to run after them and to panic and do these things. it's information that's going to save us. >> thank you very much. great having you on. good to see you. new video coming in of the tsunami as it hit hawaii. the security camera footage. take a look at this. it shows what happened early friday morning when the massive wave crashed through the glass windows of this clothing store and the store's owner has insurance to cover her losses. look at that video. you get the four vantage points there. she's salvaging what she can and
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plans to donate it to charity. even more video coming in from different vantage points of what happened almost a week ago. movie star sandra bullock opening her wallet to help the people of japan. the star is donating $1 million, one week after the 9.0 quake hit the death toll stands at more than 5,000. more than 9,000 are still missing. and authorities tell that is more than 452,000 people staying in shelters as supplies of fuel, medicine and necessities began to run short. the director of research at indiana university's center for
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philanthropy. >> let's talk about the donations coming in here. as i mentioned, sandra bullock offering up $1 million, according to reports. the japanese people have received $66 million in the first week of the disaster. is that enough? >> well, i think it's fair to say that no two disasters are alike. each disaster differs and the extent of damage and the devastation that it brings and also the degree of philanthropic response. while there has been a strong and generous response to this disaster, there's also been perhaps a lower level of donations, compared to other recent international disasters of this scale and magnitude. just as a comparison, at this point, six weeks -- six days after the disaster giving to haiti reached $228 million. this is only a quarter of the donations reached towards haiti. >> why do you believe that's the case, doctor? >> you beat plea to that question. there's several factors that we can look at. let's look at a few of them carefully. the first is economic.
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japan is viewed as a peer country, it's a wealthier country than haiti. it has strong institutions and a history of dealing effectively with disasters, such as this one. i think that affects the nature and the extent of the philanthropic response. the organizational environment matters. we had a number of -- a large number of nonprofits operating in haiti, for example, prior to the disaster. in japan, there are few international aid organizations that have long-term operations in japan. that makes it difficult for them to start relief operations and then raise money to fund those operations. i think that's, again, related to the economic factors. it's also fair to say that japan is also at a distance from the u.s. compared to haiti. haiti's much closer and, therefore, there's a lot more information. it seems like it's closer to home. the media coverage is also important. we know that people tend to give when they know about the disaster, when they have good
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information about how to give, where to give. in this case, we've had a very muted media coverage around individuals and communities that are being affected by the disaster. i think that has an impact, as well. i'll mention quickly two other factors. the government, the japanese government has not necessarily had a call to action. it hasn't come and asked people to donate and step forward. i think that affects the nature of the philanthropic response. finally there's uncertainty surrounding what the extent of the needs are, how rebuilding will take place. if the disaster's really over. and i think that affects how much people give and where they donate. so the uncertainty's probably a bigger factor than we realize. a lot of -- yes, americans are generous, they've shown throughout disasters that they're willing to give. however, in this case, there's a lot of lack of information about how best to for the japanese people during this time. >> hopefully people will be able to donate if they can.
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certainly, the need appears to be there. director of research at indiana university's center for philanthropy. thank you so much. how you can help the victims of the disaster in japan. text redcross to 90999 to donate $10. text japan or quake to 80888 to donate $10 to the salvation arm. what's called the largest pedophile ring involving up to 70,000 people has been busted. and now, there may be a connection to the u.s. authorities say that they positively identified nearly 200 suspects. >> some of the occupations that these people held were school teachers, members of scouting fraternity, i.t. consultants, harmhands, sales consultants, retail, car drivers. there are people that are out there in the public that we deal
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with every day. >> clint van zandt a former fbi profiler and nbc an lift and founder of livesecure.org, protecting kids from predators. 70,000 people they believe are part of the ring. they've identified 200 suspects. that's an enormous amount of individuals they're looking for. >> it is. that's the scary thing about the internet, it's just a wonderful way to travel, but there's there are terrible back road on that. msnbc has had in the pass "to catch a predator" we know from that there's anywhere from 250,000 to 750,000 predators on the internet at any time. here, what we have is 70,000 who all come to this one internet site to see one thing, how to abuse children. and in some of these sites, tamron, we have live streaming
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of individuals abusing children, for lack of better term. it's horrible. so the baz news is, it goes on. the good news now law enforcement identified between 500 and 1,000 that have been arrested in multiples, 30 different countries, almost 300 children have been saved but there are hundreds, thousands, of children in this situation every day. >> this is a worldwide issue, one of the uk suspects, allegedly, shared images with contacts in the united states. the age range of these people who were charged, the youngest, 19, the oldest, 84 years old. >> 84. >> executive over this agency says that no age is a barrier. the 84-year-old living in thailand, which is sadly a place these pedophiles target when looking for children, both boys and girls. >> yeah. as you say, on our website, livesecure.org, you can get a
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free copy of a dvd, protecting children from predators. we've given away 15,000 of those as an fbi agent one time we were involved in arresting an 84-year-old man, same age who had sexually abused his children, grandchildren and starting to abuse his great-grandchildren when somebody finally turns him in. folks, this happens within families all over the world. if it's happening within your family, raise your hand and say, i'm not going to allow this child to be abused. >> clint van zandt, thank you very much. greatly appreciate you joining us talk about this disturbing story. you're watching "news nation" on msnbc. ch cken, chicn. there are thousands of ways to prepare it. [ chickens clucking ] you know only two of them. time to mix it up. time for new philly cooking creme. it'll take your chicken to places it's never been before. somewhere creamier, dreamier, with lots of flavor. look at you all chef-like.
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and 24/7 help from award-winning customer support to take control of your finances and your life. tap into the power of revolutionary mobile apps. to trade wherever. whenever. life isn't fully experienced sitting idly by. neither is investing. e-trade. investing unleashed. delicious gourmet of gravy. and she agrees. with fancy fest gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day. fancy feast, the best ingredient is love. ♪ ...in a good way. in a jaw to the floor netflix-streaming, office deadline-obliterating, work-ninjaing, xbox live on my phone booootakasha kind of way. you won't believe what windows phone can do... and what your old phone can't.
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get the only phone with office, xbox live and thousands of apps. get a windows phone for $99.99 at at&t. i'm martin bashir. coming up at the top of the hour, we await president obama and his address to america on the rapidly changing situation in japan. we'll have the latest on efforts to stave off a nuclear catastrophe.
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>> right now, jury selection under way in the grizzly triple homicide case in connecticut that left a mother and her two young daughters dead after a home invasion. joshua komisarjevsky is the second man to be tried for the murder. steven hayes convicted of the killings last year and he's on death row. jeff rossen live in new haven, connecticut, with latest here. so with komisarjevsky, again the alleged mastermind, what kind of evidence do prosecutors have because they had certainly aplethora in the hayes case, jeff. >> reporter: one of the key pieces of evidence, tamron, is a diary that komisarjevsky kept himself. a journal in many ways, that he talked about the crime. he wrote about it. i have a few of the entries that i can read to you. he wrote, this is about the assault of dr. pettitte's daughter, mckayla. yes, in a vulgar display i
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tasted her fear after stripping her of her clothing to take blackmail pictures. he takes a shot at dr. pettitte saying had mr. pettitte fought back in the beginning i would haven forced to retreat. when a crimen teres your home you better have a prearranged plan to fight back. those are a couple of the examples. a chilling graphic diary that most of the entries we can't read to you but needless to say he does confess to beingen side that home. he does confess in this diary to playing a role in assaults and plu plu murders. now it's not a matter of guilt or innocence, it's a matter of whether he'll get the death penalty or not. in fact, komisarjevsky has pled not guilty in this case officially, but he's offering to plead guilty if prosecutors will take the death penalty off the table. so far, prosecutors here in connecticut are saying no deal, we're going for death. >> jeff rossen, live in connecticut, thank you. next on "news nation" --
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>> i know it's wrong what i'm doing here. i just don't see to stop myself. >> can help himself. a con man caught red-handed by the women he spent years lying to. details on the web of deceit that landed this romeo behind bars. [ female announcer ] sometimes you need tomorrow
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welcome back to "news nation." listen to this one. police have busted a school bus driver in connecticut for text messaging behind the wheel. evelyn guzman turned herself in to police yesterday. detectives believe she sent and received not one, not t
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of. >> kevin tibbles. couldn't help himself. a lot of people can't help themselves. seriously, this guy he really hurt a lot of women they kind of got revenge by teaming up. >> reporter: well, you can't tell the players without a program in this one, tamron. this was a massive web of deceit that was essentially played out by 44-year-old englishman, simon reid, and what he did go around, meet a lot of women, a lot in the uk. one of the vital ones here in minnesota, in the united states. he courted them all. he offered to marry them all. he told them wild stories. in one he was an international businessman. he told another one he was an international rock climbing star. he told another that he had a son that was a pilot in the
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royal air force in the uk who had been injured in a crash. and of course with some of the others he started to ask for money. and all told, about 30,000 was handed over until one of the women saw the posting from the woman in minnesota saying this guy was a love rat and she did her research, and as you just saw there, tamron, they essentially ambushed him in one of the homes with a video recorder and the next thing you know, this guy was caught and sent to prison for two counts of fraud. the women were on the "today" show, one of them, her name is buckingham, discussed how she feels now looking back at it all. >> for all intents and purposes i was still in a relationship with him i still loved him at that point and i felt really guilty for calling the police on him afterwards. >> reporter: so she felt guilty for calling the police on him,
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which i really don't know how to explain all of that, but the bottom line is that, at least four women, this guy was married to somebody else by the time when all of this was going on. >> she felt bad. the explanation is, in her mind, thought it was love. obviously for him it was something else. an interesting story, kevin. thank you. wish we had more time to talk about it. >> reporter: hell hath no furry. >> i'm tamron hall. catch "news nation" every weekday at 2:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. martin bashir is up next. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] with amazing innovation, driven by relentless competition, wireless puts the world at your command.
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